Drive offensively! Car Wars is a game featuring freeways of the future in which the right of way goes to those with the biggest guns. Players choose their vehicle — complete with weapons, armor, power plants, suspension, and even body style — then they take them out on the road, either to come home as "aces" or to crash and burn. If a driver survives, his abilities improve and he can earn money to buy bigger and better cars. Advanced rules let players design their own customized cars, trucks, and cycles.
This entry covers Car Wars and Car Wars Deluxe, the first two editions of the rules. See also:
Car Wars Compendium, a.k.a. CWC and CWCII, for the third and fourth editions of the rules
Car Wars (Fifth Edition) for the revised and simplified edition of the game
Mini Car Wars, an introductory version of Car Wars originally printed on a single sheet of paper, requiring only a pencil and six-sided dice.
Car Wars Series for a complete list of expansions and supplements (including Autoduel Quarterly, the forty-issue Car Wars magazine)
- nostalgic appeal
- deep customization
- tactical vehicle combat
- shipping delays
- complex rules
- car combat and customization
- Post-apocalyptic United States highways; vehicular combat
- retro-futuristic
- Gas Lands
- Bolt Action
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Customization and equipment — Extensive options for weapons, armor, and gadgets to modify vehicles.
- Terrain-driven scenarios — Games can be set with varying terrain and mission goals.
- vehicle combat — Players control customizable cars with weapons and armor, engaging in turn-based battles.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- kickstarter is a great thing for what it's meant for
- I'm not against crowdfunding and I'm not against kickstarter I'm against big companies like hasbro and coolmini or not and stuff like that who just use it as basically a marketing thing
- supply chain from china is just drying up right now
- kickstarters are slow down due to shipping issues
- there's a lot of talk about the shipping container costs and how that affects pricing
References (from this video)
- iconic, foundational vehicle combat game
- fun at local clubs and gatherings
- older mechanics can be verbose to learn for new players
- vehicular combat with customized cars and weapons
- Post-apocalyptic road-war environment
- driven by competitive, fast-paced chase scenarios
- Gaslands
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card/map-based combat with miniature vehicles — classic setup uses map panels and cardboard/chits for combat actions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- all the money like they have this huge raffle for all this stuff that gets donated all that money goes to charity
- Gaslands has far less paperwork when I used to play Car Wars
- Kill Team is kind of my jam right now as far as skirmish games are concerned
- Nova Open is a great convention
- Squats would be back and Age of Sigmar would be a thing
References (from this video)
- Classic, iconic concept with a lot of nostalgia
- Tends to scale well on smaller boards
- Original format can feel antiquated to new players
- Vehicle duels with weaponized customization
- Futuristic car combat on a road-drenched arena
- B-movie feel, arena-style skirmishes
- Gaslands
- Ogre
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Vehicle customization and battle scoring — Guns, armor, and gadgets are slotted into a car chassis for battles
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Gaslands is a very cool game and it's like 20 bucks
- it's going to be probably more accessible to more people certainly
- I really like the kind of bidding system about how you who goes first
- you can't take Kill Team rules for most models too which is cool
- it's almost like X-wing Star Wars X-wing
- Gaslands is a very cool game and it's like 20 bucks and you go to town
- Kill Team is the way to go... it's the next logical step
- it's not about swapping a lot of weapons as much anymore